NEW Home Secretary Alan Johnson is setting up a ministerial committee to work out how to release the Hillsborough files.

And he will meet the families of the disaster victims within the next three weeks to decide how “justice is best served” after 20 years.

He confirmed the government will drop the 30-year secrecy rule covering police and other key documents previously kept under wraps.

And at a 45-minute meeting with Merseyside MPs he confirmed the documents could run to 20,000 pages.

The chairmanship of the committee will be a minister of state either from his own Department, or from the justice ministry or one from a completely seperate ministry who would act as an independent arbiter.

The committee will be up and running shortly before he meets the families some time before July 21.

Mr Johnson, switched from Health Secretary in the recent Cabinet reshuffle, agreed the Hillsborough families have waited “too long” to get the “full picture” of events in Sheffield.

He also believes the release of complex, and possibly conflicting, information has to ensure “full transparency” and that it could take a while further if he is to decide whether a public inquiry into alleged police mishandling, cover-up and bogus claims that Reds fans were to blame is justified.

There will also be a focus on the “revolving door” inquests and a coroner’s ruling that all the victims died at the same time.

That means the release could take until September or even October.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham – heckled at the Hillsborough anniversary event – was also present at the meeting and argued that the files should be made available “as soon as humanly possible.”

Halton MP and former minister Derek Twigg, who convened the meeting, said: “We are very pleased with this outcome. We wanted to know how advanced the work is towards progressing towards releasing these documents.

“It has been advanced considerably and the families will be the first to know. There may be an understandable delay but that is only so that everything is done right after two decades of uncertainty, allegations and counter-claims.